Mike at Night The Seductive Nature of Reality TV
I got hooked on reality television lately; specifically, Big Brother 3. Twelve total strangers were placed in a house together with no televisions, radios, or telephones and each week, one person was voted out of the house. This was done until only two remained, then all of the evictees were invited back to cast the final vote. The winner received $500,000 dollars, the second place finisher $50,000. The other ten got nothing. I was attracted to the show initially because the things that go on in the house are pure Sociology. People form alliances, then the alliances break down. People make secret deals with others, only to later see those same people break their word. Since television cameras and voice recorders are hidden all over the house, the house guests never knew whether their conversations are being broadcast to America or not. In most cases, they were. I think this program should be required viewing for everyone. There's an old adage that suggests that truth is always stranger and usually better than fiction and that's certainly the case with this program when you compare it with the traditional television fare of dramas and situation comedies. This is real life stuff going on. These people act and behave just like your neighbors and acquaintances. They smile to your face while they're twisting the knife in your back. I've written before about the difference between friends and acquaintances and this difference is magnified for the viewing audience by the behavior of the houseguests. Some people were hurt, others were devastated because they thought they had become "friends" with someone only to find out the other person was working in their own best interest. This is exactly what happens with our friends and acquaintances in the real world. We think we know people. We think they like us for who we are. And then we find out that their real agendas are themselves, rather than us. We discover that they would sell us out in a heartbeat if it made them look better to certain people. How many people do you know who act like they like someone when they're around that person, only to later ignore the same person when other, more influential friends are around? We see it happen all the time. They act like you're they're friend until they're around others whose opinions mean more to them, especially if those other people don't like you very much for one reason or another. Then you get shunned by the whole group. People on the game show were caught saying really nasty things about other houseguests and then pretending to be their confidants and best friends when they were with them. Again, an accurate representation of what goes on every day in every community. There are people we know who are simply users. They take whatever you have to give them until you have nothing left, then they move on. They're literally human scavengers and the sad thing is that many of them can't even recognize this trait in themselves. The characteristics that manifested themselves on Big Brother 3 were not imitations of life. They were reflections of life. That's how far too many of us behave and it's not something we should be especially prideful of. As human beings, we can do much, much better. We can treat people with the dignity and respect that we would appreciate receiving from them. We can stay out of their business unless we're asked in and, even then, we should volunteer to be there for them, without trying to impose our will on them. See, it's a game for us too, just like it was for the houseguests in Big Brother 3. But for us, it's the game of life and we don't get a chance to do it over. ____________ Mike can be e-mailed at mikeatnight@hotmail.com |